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Neovenator

Name: »new hunter«

Length: 7.5 – 10 m

Height: 2 – 3 m

Weight: 2 – 4 tons

Diet: carnivore

Time: Cretaceous (127 MYA)

Location: Europe (England)

Dinosaur stuff

http://www.wikidino.com/…/uplo…/Neovenator-Todd-Marshall.jpg

http://www.wikidino.com/…/up…/Neovenator-alexandernevsky.jpg

Neovenator (“new hunter”) is a genus of allosauroid dinosaur. Since its discovery on the Isle of Wight, UK, it has become one of the best-known large carnivorous dinosaurs in Europe. Neovenator was at first considered possibly a new species of Megalosaurus. It measured approximately 7.5 meters in length, and was of a gracile build. It lived during the Barremian stage of the Cretaceous Period.

Discovery and species

The first bones of the type species were discovered in 1978, in the chalk cliffs of southwest Isle of Wight. It was much later (1996) that more bones from this specimen were found. Excavations undertaken by Dr Steve Hutt and his team have so far revealed approximately 70% of the skeleton.

At the time that it was described, by Steve Hutt, Martill and Barker in 1996, it was considered the only known allosaurid in Europe. However, further studies suggested it had more in common with the advanced carcharodontosaurid group of allosaurs, and several studies including a detailed examination of the species by Brusatte, Benson and Carrano in 2009 showed that it is in fact closely related to the Carcharodontosauridae (in a group called Carcharodontosauria), but is actually closer to the Megaraptorans, together with them forming the family Neovenatoridae.

Neovenator has a short premaxilla with five teeth and numerous nutritive foramina. the anterior border has a sharp postero-dorsal slope. the suture with the maxilla is is almost vertical, and has a short posterior process on the dorsal margin. The maxilla is large, and high towards the anterior end. Sloping posteriorly with a large maxillary fenestra is a prominant ascending process. In the maxilla are fifteen alveoli, and the interdental plates ate fused. the teeth are labo-lingually compressed and recurve poisteriorly, and only the apical half of the anterior border and the whole length of the posterior border is serrated, with 12 serrations per 5 mm. The roots make up three quarters of the length of the tooth. The dentary is shallow and pointed anteriorly, with a pointed anterior, a narrow symphyseal region and an acute interdentary angle. to the anterior there are numerous nutritive foramina.

Both the cervical and dorsal vertebrae have prominant pleurocoels, the latter also showing wide, stout neural spines, and the sacrum is fused with solid centra. the caudals are elongate narrow waisted, with those to the anterior possessing thin blade-like neural spines. the posterior third of the caudal vertebrae have elongate prezygapophyses, which overlap the preceding vertebrae by 80% of the length of the caudal.

The scapula has a distal expansion, and is fused to the shallow coracoid. The ischia and the pubes have well defined obturator notches as opposed to enclosed foramina, and the pubic boot is 70% the length of the pubic shaft.

The femur has an elongate fourth trochanter, and is situated on the internal surface of the shaft, with an clearly defined ovalposterio-lateral muscle scar. The tibia has a bulge behind the crist-fibularis, and the fibula is slender. The pes has three functional toes, the ungual showing a dorsal groove.

Based on most of a skeleton and partial skull.

The remarkable thing about Neovenator MIWG6348 is the shape of the skull profile: this has been described as ‘puffin-like’. The naris is huge. The teeth have very much slipped out of their sockets. Neovenator was certainly the major flesh-eater around in the UK at this time. The pleurocoels continue troughout the dorsal column.

Experts have confirmed that Neovenator is a previously unknown species, distantly related to the Allosaurus from North America but lighter and quicker. The fossilised bones were first found in 1978 but scientists had only recently dug them all out. Hutt was delighted to find such a complete skeleton. Neovenator has five premaxillary teeth (as does Allosaurus, but not Sinraptor or any other carnosaur).

Neovenator is rather complete approx. 70% of the skeleton is known. It has avetheropodan characters (e.g. large pubic boot) and is assigned to the Allosauroidea Sereno et al. , 1994, on the basis of a nasal that participates in the antorbital fossa.Left metatarsals II and IV are there, as is a complete phalangeal set for met IV. Three pedal unguals have been found, the largest of which has an odd shallow grove along the dorsal surface.

Naish et al..(2001) distinguish Neovenator from other theropods based on the shape of the raised crests of the nasals (not known at the time of description) and a dorsal groove on at least one of the pedal ungual phalanges. Additionally, Neovenator possesses premaxillae with a ridge- and groove structure on their medial surfaces, a condition not yet reported in other theropods. Holtz (1998) found Neovenator to be the sister taxon of Allosaurus, while Naish et al. (2001) speculated that is was carcharodontosaurid. Although the original material suggests that Neovenator reached a length of 7 meter, isolated remains indicate individuals as long as 10 meter.

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Reptilia

Superorder: Dinosauria

Order: Saurischia

Suborder: Theropoda

Superfamily: Allosauroidea

Family: Neovenatoridae

Genus: Neovenator Hutt Martill & Barker, 1996

Species: N. salerii Hutt, Martill & Barker, 1996